The present invention relates in general to a window blind and, more particularly, to a child safety blind which can be raised or lowered without using a conventional lift or draw cord.
Blinds have been widely used to prevent sunlight from entering an area and to retain privacy. Typically, blinds include a plurality of slats, vanes or fabric pleats hung horizontally from a head rail.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional prior art horizontal blind. The blind comprises a head rail 10, a bottom rail 12, a plurality of slats 14 disposed between the head rail 10 and the bottom rail 12, a tilt rod or tilt wand 16, a pair of ladder tapes 18 driven by the tilt rod 16, a pair of lift cords 20 extending through the slats 14 from the bottom rail 12 to the head rail 10, and a lift cord 22 of the lift cords 20 external to the slats 14. As shown in FIG. 1, the slats 14 extend horizontally between the head rail 10 and the bottom rail 12. By turning the tilt rod/wand 12, the ladder tapes 18 are driven to adjust the orientation of each slat 14. The lift cord 22 normally comprises two strings extending through the slats 14 from the bottom rail to the head rail 10 and then through the head rail to a level accessible to the user to raise or lower the slats 14.
When the blind is disposed in its normal extended, operable, i.e., released, position, most of the lift cords 22 is out of reach for small children. However, when the blind is partly raised as shown in FIG. 1, or raised to a fully open position, the lift cords 22 extend downwardly and become readily accessible to small children, thereby posing a possible safety hazard to small children.
Recently, various accidental cord deaths to small children have been reported which has caused manufacturers to investigate and attempt to provide increased child safety devices. For example, some manufactures provide cord cleats to wrap excessively long cords as well as provide consumer warning labels on blind products. However, most of the cleats require special tools or procedures, including drilling and screwing to mount the same as well as require the user to always manually wind the cord about the cleat. As such, the prior art cleats are prone to be unreliable in preventing cord deaths.